Detector mechanism for crown cap assembling machines



Feb. 15, 1938. R EARUNG 2,108,257

DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CROWN CAP ASSEMBLING MACHINES Filed May 16, 19541 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 R. EARLING 08,257- DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CROWN CAPASSEMBLING MACHINES Feb. 15, 1938.

Filed May 16, 1934 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 lid m W Won/M11 0 Feb. 15, 1938.EARUNG 7 2,108,257

DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CROWN CAP ASSEMBLING MACHINES Filed May 16, 19345 sheetS-sheet 3 mini: ril -my *Illll Inn i1 a m gm .!J if h m m:

"l I llll Illllll Patented Feb. 15, 1938 2,108,257

umrso STATES PATENT OFFICE I DETECTOR MECHANISM FOR CROWN CAP ASSEMBLINGMACHINES Roy Earling, Baltimore, Md., assignor to'Crown Cork & SealCompany, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application May16, 1934, Serial No. 726,013

7 Claims. (Cl. 20982) The present invention relates to a detector ofmanufacturing spot caps. The machine with mechanism particularly adaptedfor use with a which the invention is illustrated includes means crowncap assembling machine and designed to to assemble metal shells andcushion liners and detect and eject defective caps. apply an adhesive toeach shell before the liner The principal object of the invention is toprois" inserted therein. The assembled shell and vide a mechanism whichwill remove from a cap liner are subsequently delivered, by a transfermanufacturing machine any cap which is not dial or conveyor, to apressure dial through which of proper manufacture. More particularly,the they then move. During the movement of the invention involves theprovision of means for shell and liner through the pressure dial, they10 removing from a crown cap assembling machine are maintained underpressure for a suflicient 10 any cap which is not provided with a liner.period of time to cause the liner-to be" firmly se- In manufacturingcrown caps, it is customary cured to the shell. to feed metal shells andthe cork or cork compo- It will, of course, be understood that thedesition liners for the same into an assembling matector mechanism ofthe present invention is chine insuch a manner that a liner will beplaced applicable to crown cap manufacturing machines 15 in each metalshell. The feeding of the liners of numerous other types and that theuse of the sometimes becomes impeded, with the result that ejectingmechanism is not limited to use in the metal shells pass through themachine without manufacture of crown caps. In fact, as will be receivingliners and are discharged into the same obvious from the followingspecification, the

receptacle or stack with properly formed caps, mechanism is readilyapplicable to machines for 20 that is, caps comprising lined shells.Unlined making any type of lined container closure and caps are ofcourse of no value to the bottler and can operate in conjunction withcap handling it is therefore desirable to separate such caps elements ofnumerous types. Furthermore, the from the properly assembled caps at apoint present mechanism may be used to detect and 5 prior to thedischarge of the caps from the eject closures which are deficient invarious remachine. spects, its use not being necessarily limited to Bythe present invention, means is provided the detection and ejection ofcrown caps lackto engage each'cap passing through an asseming a liner. 1bling machine, and the engaging means is so Other objects and.advantages of the invention designed that if a cap, that is, a metalshell, will be apparent from the following drawings, in 30 contains noliner, it will be automatically ejected which:-- from the machine. Onthe. other hand, the en Figure 1 is a side elevation of a capmanufacgaging means will in no way interfere with the turing machinehaving the mechanism of the passage through the machine of caps whichare present invention applied thereto, 9 provided .with proper liners.Figure 2 isa plan view of a section of a cap 35 Another important objectof the invention is manufacturing machine, showing a portion of a toprovide a mechanism which will detect and transfer dial for moving capsfromthe feeding eject unlined caps, which mechanism comprises mechanismto the pressure dial of the machine a minimum number of moving parts andis so and the application of my detector mechanism designed that it maybe readily applied to a cap to the transfer dial, 40 manufacturingmachine. Figure 3 is a verticalsectional view taken on Variousarrangements for detecting and ejecta line corresponding to the line3--3 of Figure 2 ing unlined cap shells have heretofore been proandshowing the detector mechanism of the vided but these previousmechanisms have inpresent invention, the transfer dial and a poreluded arelatively large number of moving parts tion of the pressure dial of acap assembling ma- 45 and, in some instances, have necessitated thechine, the central portion of the transfer dial use of electricalcontact making means operated being omitted,

by the passage of caps through the machine to Figure 4 is a verticalsectional view of a pordetect defective caps. tion of the detectormechanism taken on line In the present application, the detector mecha-44 of Figure 2, 50

nismof my invention is shown applied to a cap Figure 5 is a verticalsectional view of the deassembling machine of well known constructiontector mechanism taken on the line 5-5 of and which is embodied in theinvention disclosed Figure 2 and showing an engaging element of in theapplication of John D. Elder, Serial No. the detector mechanism inengagement with a 714,167, filed March 5, 1934, Machine and method capcontaining a liner; and 55 the cap assembling machine being shown invertical section. v

The cap assembling machine with which the present invention isillustrated may be briefly described as including a hopper 30 for metalshells, the shells being delivered from the hopper by a chute 3| andpositioned upon a transfer plate 32 with their skirts extendingupwardly. The shells are moved from the transfer plate 32 by a removingmeans 33 which conducts the shells to a horizontally disposedstep-by-step conveyor 34. During their movement upon the step-bystepconveyor, the shells pass beneath a device 35 which deposits adhesive inthe shell and, upon a slight continued movement of the shell to theleft, this adhesive is spread over the inner side of the top of theinverted shell by a spreading means 36. The conveyor 34 next moves theshells past a mechanism 31 which positions a cushion liner of cork orcork composition in each shell, the liners being supplied from a tube 38through which they move by gravity.

Continued movement of the step-by-step conveyor 34 carries the shell andthe liner therein to a rotating transfer dial or conveyor 40 as shown inFigure 2.

The transfer dial 40 has pockets 4| circumferentiallyspaced about itsupper periphery and a All of the mechanism which has been describedabove is well known and is disclosed and described in detail in theapplication of John D. Elder, referred to above.

-The detector mechanism of my invention includes a base 45 which issecured upon the frame of the cap assembling machine adjacent theperiphery of the transfer dial 48 as shown in Figures 2 and 3. A casing45a fits upon the base 45 to enclose the moving parts of the mechanism.A vertical post 46 is fixed centrally of the base 45 and a rotatingmember 41 including a hub portion 48 and a horizontal flange 49 isrotatably supported upon the post 46 by means of anti-friction bearings.The member 41 has a ring gear or pinion 50 secured toits lower face,which pinion is rotated through a train 5| of idler gears driven from aring gear or pinion 40a fixed to the lower portion of the rotatingtransfer dial 48.

' The rotating member 41 includes a flat ring 52 fixed to the upper endof the hub 48. Ring 52 and the flange portion of the member 41 areprovided with circumferentially spaced and vertically aligned aperturesin which are positioned cap engaging elements 53 which, as shown inFigure 3, are formed as plungers provided with depending pins 54 attheir lower ends. The elements 53 are preferably rotatable in theapertures. The plungers or cap engaging elements 53 are provided withannular flanges 55 which normally bear upon the upper side of the flange49. A ring 56 rests upon each flange 55, these rings being of form maybe provided to tend the plungers or cap engaging elements to thedownward position shown.

Each cap engaging element 53 is provided with a tapered head 51 havingits side walls inwardly and downwardly inclined at a relatively sharpangle.

A disk 58 is fixed to the upper end of the stationary post 46 above therotating member 41 and an arcuate cam plate 59 projects from the pe--riphery of the disk 58, this cam plate extending 'from a point spacedfrom the periphery of the projecting portion of the plate is upwardlybevvelled at its outer edge 6| in a longitudinal direction. The upperface of the inner edge 62 of the plate 59 is downwardly bevelled. Bythis arrangement, the tapered heads 51 of the plungers or cap engagingelements moving about the disk 58 will ride upwardly along the bevelledsurface 6|, thence along the plate 59 and off the downwardly bevelledportion 62.

A second cam plate 63 is provided upon the disk 58 and extends from apoint adjacent the periphery of the transfer dial 40 and outwardlytherefrom about the disk. Cam plate 63 has a swinging movement upon astud 64 which extends through an aperture in the plate and into the disk58. The plate 83 has a transverse slot 65 adjacent its inner end throughwhich passes a stud or machine screw 66. The free end of a spring 61secured to the disk 58 bears upon the inner end ofcam plate 63 tonormally hold it in outward position as shown in Figure 2, the slot 65permitting the plate 63 to swing inwardly with respect to the screw 66and spring 61 in a manner hereinafter described. The cam plate 63 alsoextends past the periphery of the flange 58 and is upwardly beveled at68 on its inner edge and downwardly bevelled at its outer edge 69. Bythis arrangement, the tapered heads of the plungers or cap engagingelements may ride upwardly upon the bevelled edge 68 and along the plate63, to move off the plate at the outer bevelled edge 69. A chute 10,shown in Figures 2 and 6, is fitted in the base 45 and has its upper endpositioned beneath the periphery of the transfer dial land the path ofmovement of cap engaging elements leaving the dial.

It will be noted that disk 58 and plates 59 and 63, together serve as acam plate to guide the vertical movements of the cap engaging elements53.

follows:

The rotation of the transfer dial 48 will cause the caps positioned inthe pockets 4| of the dial by the conveyor 31 to be moved opposite thecap detector mechanism.'The gearing between the transfer dial and therotary member 41 of the cap ejecting mechanism is so arranged that thecap engaging elements 53 will, in effect, intermesh with the pockets 4|of the transfer dial. That is to say, one of the cap engaging elementswill be aligned with each pocket of the transfer dial as the rotarymember 41 and the transfer dial rotate with each other.

As a cap engaging element 53 of the detector mechanis moves about thestationary disk 55 in a counter-clockwise direction, its tapered headwill engage the bevelled surface 6| of the cam plate 59, raising theentire engaging element. As shown in Figure 4, the engaging element willbe raised a suflicient distance by the cam plate 59 to have the pin 54at its lower end pass above the upwardly extending skirt of the invertedcap which is seated in the pocket 4| of the transfer dial into which orabove which the engaging element is then moving. The tapered head of theengaging element will then ride down the inclined surface 62 at theinner end of the cam plate 59 and off the end of the cam plate so thatthe pin 54 at the lower end of the engaging element will drop into thecap positioned in the aligned pocket 4|. The weighted ring 56 providedon the engaging element will insure that the latter will drop promptlyafter leaving the cam plate 59.

If the cap which is positioned in the pocket 4| of the transfer dial iscomplete, that is, if it comprises both a metal shell and a cushionliner, the engaging element 53 will naturally not drop as far as if noliner is in the metal shell and the engaging element will be keptpartially raised as shown in Figure 5 so that its flange 55 will notcontact with the flange 49 on the rotating member. The continuedrotation of the member 41 will move the tapered head 51 of the engagingelement against the inclined inner edge 68 of the cam plate 63 as shownin Figure 5 and the upward inclination of the surface 68 will cause thetapered head to ride up and upon the cam plate as shown at A in Figure6, lifting the engaging element so that its pin 54 will-be raised abovethe upper edge of the skirt of thecap as the engaging element and capmove in diverging paths with the rotating bodies which carry them. Inshort, the presence in a pocket 4| of the transfer dial of a cap havinga liner therein will cause the engaging element to be kept raisedsufficiently far that its tapered head will ride upon the cam plate 63and up and out of the cap.

In the event that no liner is positioned in a cap which comes oppositethe detector mechanism, the corresponding engaging element of thedetector mechanism will drop a greater distance in the cap. Because ofthis, the continued rotation of the member 4! will cause the taperedhead 51 of the engaging element to stay beneath the cam plate 63 asshown at B in Figure 6 and the pin 54 on the engaging element will pullthe cap or metal shell out of the pocket 4| of the transfer dial andwill slideit around on the base 45 of the detector mechanism to thechute 10 down which the shell will slide. Shells received from the chutemay be again placed in the shell hopper of the assembly machine.-

The cap engaging element 53 shown at position C in Figure 6 is alsobeneath the cam plate 63, having engaged a cap which contained no linerand having fed the cap to the chute 10.

The present mechanism is also eflicient for removing from the assemblingmachine any caps having liners therein of insufficient thickness,

7, since the engaging element 53 will drop a greater distance into sucha cap and will therefore pass beneath the cam plate63 instead of ridingabove it, causing the defective cap to be withdrawn from the assemblingmachine.

In some instances, the liner of the cap may be of a thickness to causethe engaging element aligned therewith to be held at such a height thatthe upper edge of the tapered head 51 of an engaging element'53 will beeither exactly horizontally aligned with the lower edge of the inclinedsurface 68 of the cam plate 63 or raised just sumciently far above thelatter as to bring the two edges into almost abutting contact. With thetwo edges opposed in this manner, the engaging element might becomelocked with respect to the cam plate 63 were it not for the fact thatthe cam plate 63 is mounted for inward swinging movement against theaction of the spring 61. However, since the cam plate may swinginwardly, any damage by reason of the abutting relationship of theengaging element and cam plate will be prevented and the continuedmovement of the engaging element along the cam plate will cause it toride upwardly upon the inclined surface 68 of the latter.

After moving oil the cam plate 63, the engaging element 53 will remainin lowered position until it again comes in contact with the cam plate59..

It will be appreciated from the above that the mechanism of the presentinvention will separate caps according to whether the caps are of adesired configuration, i. e., in the present instance, according towhether they contain liners and are therefore of a" predetermined depth.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the detailsof construction shown in the drawings and described in the specificationand that the example of the use of' the mechanism which has been givendoes not include all of the uses of which the mechanism is capable;also, that the phraseology employed in the specification is for thepurpose of description and not of limitation.

I claim:-

1. A mechanism for gauging caps upon a cap conveyor, comprising arotatable member, cap engaging means movable in said member, means toposition said engaging means on a-cap, cam means to move said engagingmeans out of engagement with a cap of a predetermined configuration,means to hold said engaging means in contact with a cap not of saidpredetermined configuration, said cam means being movable with respectto said engaging means to prevent the latter from being held againstmovement by contact thereof with a cap of improper configuration.

2. A mechanism for gauging caps upon a cap conveyor, comprising asupporting means, cap engaging means movable in said supporting means,means to position said engaging means in contact with a cap, a controlmember to move said engaging means out of engagement with a cap of apredetermined configuration, means to hold said engaging means incontact with a cap not of said predetermined configuration, said controlmember being movable with respect to said engaging means to prevent thelatter from being held against movement by contact thereof with a cap ofimproper configuration.

3. A mechanism for gauging caps upon a cap conveyor, comprising arotatable member, cap engaging means vertically movable in said member,means to position said engaging means on a cap, cam means to move saidengaging means outof engagement with a cap of a predeterminedconfiguration, means to hold said engaging means in contact with a capnot of said predetermined configuration, said cam means being movablewith respect to said engaging means to prevent the latter from beingheld against movement by contact thereof with a cap of improperconfiguration.

4. A mechanism for gauging caps upon a conveyor, comprising a capengaging element, means to move said element into the path of normalmovement of the caps, into engagement therewith and then retract saidelement from the path of movement or the caps, and means to remove saidelement from engagement with a cap of predetermined configuration as theelement is retracted from the path of movement oi the caps, and toretain said element in engagement with a cap not of said predeterminedconfiguration as it is retracted from the normal pathpf the caps.

5. A mechanism for gauging caps upon a conveyor, comprising a verticallymovable cap engaging element, means to move said element into the pathof normal movement of the caps, into engagement therewith and thenretract said element from the path of movement 01 the caps, and means toremove said element from engagement with a cap of predeterminedconfiguration as the element is retracted from the path of movement ofthe caps, and to retain said element in engagement with a cap not orsaid predetermined configuration as it is retracted from the normal pathof the caps.

6. A mechanism for gauging caps upon, which caps are supported upon aconveyor, comprising a rotary support having a portion thereofoverlapping the conveyor, a cap engaging element carried in said rotarysupport to move into and out of the path of movement of the caps on theconveyor, means to move said element into engagement with the caps onthe conveyor, and means to remove said element from gripping engagementwith a cap of predetermined configuration as the element moves away fromsaid conveyor and to retain said element in engagement with a cap not ofsaid predetermined configuration as it moves away from said conveyor toconduct the cap from the conveyor.

7. A mechanism for gauging caps, which caps are supported upon aconveyor, comprising a rotary support having a portion thereofoverlapping the conveyor, a cap engaging element carried in said rotarysupport to move into and out of the path of movement of the caps on theconveyor, means to move said element into engagement with the caps onthe conveyor, and cam means to remove said element from grippingengagement with a cap of predetermined configuration as the elementmoves away from said conveyor, said element being weighted to beretained in engagement with a cap not of said predeterminedconfiguration as it moves away,

from said conveyor to conduct the cap from the conveyor.

ROY EARLING.

